February 23, 2013

One effective way to counter the inclination of some college students to overeat might be to simply remove the trays from the university dining halls. Two studies at American University, which did so, found that the result was 32 percent less wasted food -- evidence that students tend to take more food than they’re actually hungry for -- and a 27 percent reduction in the number of dishes used, which implies a similar reduction in the amount of food the student could carry to a table to be eaten. Since the initial report, a number of other universities in the area have also removed dining hall trays, including Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, the University of Virginia, and James Madison. Students were found to accept trayless dining when informed that it would effectively reduce waste.